Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

Roasted Potato Bread, Two Ways

My intention was to make a simple sourdough bread with the addition of roasted potato nuggets that would stand up to the dough rather than receding into it, lending appreciable color, texture, and potato flavor.

The first time around, that wasn’t exactly how it played out, but I was still pleased with the bread. I roasted the potatoes at 350F so they were soft but not overly brown, with a few cloves of crushed garlic that I removed after roasting. Even having been left unpeeled, the potatoes did disintegrate almost completely into the dough. The result was a beautiful soft crumb with no discernible potato flavor, making it excellent for sandwiches (even PB&J) as well as accompaniment to the fantastic eggplant parmesan I had at the home of old East-coast friends who are now our neighbors (yes!).

As much as I liked the first loaves, I had not achieved what I set out to, so the following day it was more potato bread. This time I roasted the potatoes at a higher temperature (450F) so they developed more of a crust and a deeper flavor. The 3/4-inch pieces stayed semi-intact during mixing, giving the best of both worlds: a soft, mottled tan crumb studded with golden potato chunks and a definite potato flavor throughout. Definitely not a PB&J bread this time.

My loaves were shaped as boules and batards in the fendu style. The first time around, I divided the batch into two large fendu boules; for the second round (the top photo of this post), I made two boules of 700 grams each, plus a batard of 550 grams. Instructions for shaping a fendu loaf are here.

For the roasted potatoes, combine all the ingredients and roast in a 350F – 450F oven (see notes above) for about 45 minutes. Let them cool completely before adding them to the dough.

Combine the flour, whole wheat flour, water, and starter in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook. Mix in low speed until the ingredients are roughly combined, adjusting the water to achieve a medium dough consistency.

Cover the bowl with a piece of linen and let the dough rest (autolyse) for 30 minutes.

Add the salt and continue mixing to a low-to-medium level of gluten development. This might take about 3 or 4 minutes, but will depend on your mixer.

Add the potatoes and mix in lowest speed until just incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container. Cover and ferment for 2.5 hours, with folds after 50 and 100 minutes.

Turn the dough into a lightly floured counter. Divide into pieces of your preferred size (between 450 and 950 grams). Preshape the dough into balls and let rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

Shape the dough into fendu rounds or batards and place them, upside-down, into floured brotforms, linen-lined bannetons, or a couche.

Proof at room temperature, covered, for 2.5 hours.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven, with baking stone, to 475F. You will also need steam during the initial phase of baking, so prepare for this now.

Once the loaves are in the oven, reduce the temperature to 450F. Bake for 10 minutes with steam, and another 20 minutes or so without steam (longer for larger loaves). Then turn off the oven and leave the loaves in for another 10 minutes, with the door ajar.

Glad to have all four of them too! These look really great! The crust, the crumb, the holes… just great. Love the roasted potato in bread too. I made it once and my kids thought they were eating fries
Thanks for participating with these wonderful loaves!!

Hi Susan, As usual I am the late guy throwing in his 2 cents… and as usual, you have produced awesome looking and tasting loaves. As I read of your first attempt and roasting the spuds at lower temp my inclination there and then (without bothering to finish the article) was to write you and tell you to “burn” the blog-tatoes which is Dave-speak for roasting them “well-fired”. So glad you got to you before I did. I must say that dicing ingredients to a fine fluff has never appealed to me, whether it’s in bread, a stew, or salad, etc. I have always like things in big chunks, coarsely chopped at most. I’ll slice and dice in my mouth. Glad you are baking up a storm and trying new things constantly. I think I may follow suit and make up a batch for the weekend, good inspiration.
Take care.

From what I can see, your loaves are consistently well-shaped and seem perfectly baked. I think I’ll be referring students and others to your blog to see your on-line demos. What a great resource!

I actually like how the crumb is softened and lightened by potatoes disintegrating into a dough, but I’ve had employers who didn’t want all the pieces to disappear. So, at the risk of passing along something you already know, I’ll mention a couple of other strategies for promoting some chunks:

1) Get small red potatoes instead of the Yukon golds. By “small” I mean potatoes maybe 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter — see if your grocer has them in bulk. We can use larger reds when making a big batch of dough in a bakery, but for a KitchenAid-type set-up at home that would be too big.
Clean them and roast them whole — the seasonings etc you list above would work well, I think. After they cool, do not cut them. Just add them to the mixer bowl in the last minute or two of mixing, when the dough is nearly developed as much as you wish. They will break apart a bit, but reds are firmer than yukons (generally), and they won’t disappear if you moderate the final mixing. By roasting them and adding them whole, you should save a bit of time.

2) Alternatively, prepare the potatoes as you did the second time, caramelizing the surface for great flavor but not allowing the smaller pieces to get too hard. When the dough is about two minutes away from being finished (yes-you have to estimate this), add about half the potatoes and finish mixing the dough. Then leave the dough in the bowl, covered, about ten minutes to rest. Remove from the bowl after it has rested and relaxed. Flatten the dough on your board or counter into a rectangle about half an inch in thickness — a bit less is OK — and spread the remaining potato chunks over the surface of the dough. Fold the dough like a letter to enclose the pieces. Cover and allow to rise 15 minutes. Form into a similar rectangle on the counter again and fold like a letter once more. Some pieces may poke through the dough, but this is no problem. Finish the bulk fermentation as normal, and shape/bake any way you like, keeping in mind that the high sugar level in potatoes will make bread rise faster and brown more easily in the oven.

Sorry for going on like that — I didn’t mean to write an epistle. I think your bread blog is outstanding.

Thanks for the instructional article on fendu loafs.
I dicovered your site only today (I had stumbled upon YeastSpotting some time ago, but just went there from time to time to oggle at the pictures.) and think I need some time to work through all this.

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[...] entered into Bread Baking Day # 17 , which features breads made with potatoes. Susan from Wild Yeast inspired me with her entry of Roasted Potato Bread, but I was too late, too busy to get it [...]

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[...] bread entered into Bread Baking Day # 17 , which features breads made with potatoes. Susan from Wild Yeast inspired me with her entry of Roasted Potato Bread, but I was too late, too busy to get it [...]